By Andrea Arens
With the resignation of the Building & Zoning Administrator, there was a need for code enforcement to be filled. The village acted swiftly and unanimously approved an agreement, on November 18, with B & F, the same service they use for permits and inspections.
The agreement calls for a B & F code enforcement officer to learn Peotone code and “sweep”the town once or twice a month looking for violations. No specific property would be targeted during a sweep, as they would be looking at the entire town. Residents with violations would be notified, and B & F would make initial contact allowing a resident 14 days to correct the violation. If not, then the resident would receive a second notice, and only after a third notice would a violation move to adjudication.
Village Administrator Nick Palmer said the goal was to work with the residents and avoid going to adjudication as much as possible.
“If in the future we decide to go a different path, we can go to a different path. There’s no long term commitment. I feel like it was very flexible. We stressed upon B & F to treat residents with respect and be very professional; they seem to really get that and promote that as their goal.”
B & F is charging $85 per hour, along with transportation costs, but Palmer felt the contract was cost efficient.
A discussion around partnering with the Chicago Southland Convention and Visitor’s Bureau for promoting tourism also occurred. The CVB gave a presentation on ways they could promote Peotone, starting with the new hotel.
If Peotone partnered with the CVB, the CVB would want a small portion of the previously enacted hotel tax Peotone stands to collect once the Holiday Inn Express at the Travel Center is complete.
No one seem opposed; an agreement may be presented at a future board meeting.
Two part-time employees were approved for full-time employment with the village – one with public works and one in administration. Both positions would receive full benefits at village expense, along with the increase in salary. Additional salaries that were never hired, along with the empty position that was all budgeted for, cover the additional expense.
The memorandum of understanding between International Union of Operating Engineers Local 399 representing Public Works employees was approved. The agreement creates an increase for the public works employees.
Palmer said the contract made the village more competitive with nearby municipalities, and noted: “To remain competitive so we don’t lose people because they jump and go somewhere else, but also we have a good small crew, and this took that into consideration with what could we do to improve that.”
The temporary foreman becomes a permanent position and increases the pay by $1.50 an hour. The hourly rate for the existing laborers will increase $1 per hour, and the part-time laborer moving to full-time will receive a $0.50 increase per hour.
In other news, the streetscape paving was to occur on November 19, with a projected end date of the end of November. A ribbon cutting ceremony is scheduled for November 30, just before the community tree lighting ceremony hosted by Game On Bar & Grill.
Leaf pickup and street sweeping are scheduled to continue for the next couple weeks.